NEW ALBANY, Ind. (WDRB) – From soaking paper in heroin to hiding meth in bibles, Floyd County Jail officials encounter some clever attempts by people trying to supply inmates with contraband through the mail.
But now there's a new, electronic way for inmates to receive mail, and officials said it’ll help keep the jail secure.
On a daily basis 250 to 400 pieces of physical mail come to the men and women at the Floyd County Jail, which holds 300 to 350 inmates. Now friends and family members can communicate with their loved ones using the Securus Technologies e-messaging system.
“It’s just a more simplified way of communicating with someone in the jail,” said Capt. David Furman, the jail commander.
Friends and family set up a Securus account, buy electronic stamps, and send a message or picture for 50 cents. Once sent, the messages go to the jail database, and someone screens all the messages just like regular mail.
“Make sure that there's nothing inappropriate or dangerous or related to another crime,” Furman said.
The picture or message is then released to the inmate for them to respond. Each housing unit has a communication terminal.
Furman said regular mail can take three to five days to reach an inmate, but e-messaging can take just hours. However, he said, it’s a privilege — not a right.
“We look at it as a reward kind of thing. So if someone begins to become a disciplinary problem or issue in the jail, then we'll just take their e-messaging,” he said.
Jail officials hope to have as many people as possible using e-messaging, which could help prevent drugs coming in with regular mail.
“Whether it's actual suboxone strips or whether it's paper that's soaked in methamphetamine or heroin,” Furman said.
And with the electronic system, jail staff also can search messages for keywords.
“Just had one this morning, and ‘kill’ is one word, for instance, that we screen the mail for, and instantly we got a notification that this letter has the word 'kill' in it,” he said.
If a message violates the jail's mail policy it will be rejected.
Since e-messaging started a little over a week ago, no messages have been rejected.
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